GLSL/GE Crash Lab | 8.03

Updates on last page

Beginning-of-thread rant, feel free to skip if you’re so inclined :wink:

Like every cg geek out there, the idea of making a game has always appealed to me. But like many Blender users, for a long time I didn’t really have the tools I needed to. Thank goodness our awesome blender devs work so hard, because now that’s no longer the case.

Its really unlikely I’ll ever finish an actual game(I’m way too ambitious to do anything simple, and not motivated enough to finish anything Id be proud of), but when I was checking out some sites on working as a 2d concept artist in the game industry, I found out Id probably end up doing a lot of modeling, mapping, etc etc. So I’m gonna be using this thread to post all my tests and mini projects so I actually have those skills and have some kind of advantage when I hit uni and the real world.

Plus I just got a new gfx card, so now I can basically do whatever I like in the GE :smiley:

So here’s the first little project(probably not done yet):
http://uploader.polorix.net//files/96/Blender%20GE/parasite_screens.jpg

Been working on it for the last few hours. Headhumper-inspired(half life 2, yes, I know, Im too addicted to that game’s style and substance), but done completely from scratch. Diffuse map and normals map. I tried some spec mapping, but either the GE doesnt support it or I need to do some googling(likely the latter). Used ramp shaders to fake fresnel for that slimy look. Needs some type of legs(probably going with something bug inspired), and I’d really like to add some eyes(or patches of eyes), still deciding how much of that I want to do with textures vs modeling.

I’ll basically be dumping my various game engine endeavors here, and hopefully I’ll learn some useful skills and produce some interesting junk along the way.

Thanks for looking!
http://uploader.polorix.net//files/96/drew.gif

Sounds exactly like me. 300 projects started, 0 completed. Although hopefully I’ll stick with Huchra’s Lens, It’s going good so far…( I REALLY have to change that name)

I love the legless headcrab and look forward to seeing more what you “dump” here! And there is no problem wit being addicted to half-life 2, It is a god among fps’s.

Looks good!

Looks good Drew! Nice to see you on the GE side of things! The ‘headcrab’ looks great, very low-poly too, which is good. The texturing more than makes up for that! Do you have any tips as to how you texture? Do you bake AO first? Thanks man! Keep up the good work!

@Matt_Goles: Haha, yeah, I’m just lazy that way :slight_smile: I cant even fathom putting in a whole year of work on any one project, be it game or whatever. Good luck with your project by the way! At least you’re making an effort :wink:

@Killer: Thanks!

@Alex: Thanks man :slight_smile: Its definitely pretty low(I think the whole thing is under 1200 tris(uner 100 polies for sure), Im basically seeing how little I can make do with, and I’ll work my way up if I absolutely have to :slight_smile: It kind of turns the whole thing into a nice efficiency excercise too.
I’ll be honest with you, this is maybe the second model I’ve made any effort to unwrap and texture(the last being a junky little cellphone game model for practice).

First off, I use the mirror modifier so I only have to do half the modeling and texturing :slight_smile: It mirrors everything for me, and its pretty easy to keep things from getting too ‘seamy’ if you lay out your UV’s right(which is actually a lot simpler than I always think its going to be). Im also super lazy, so I used the same texture maps for all four legs. It keeps things symetrical in a good way and saves you a lot of time/tedious work(whenever possible RECYCLE).

As for painting the textures, It helps to have a gfx tablet, but my biggest asset is brushes. I don’t even use my own custom ones, just the preloaded variety. I think this guy’s diffuse maps only required like 3 different brushes.

Heres what the body map looks like:
http://uploader.polorix.net//files/96/Blender%20GE/Diffuse_Map.jpg

I do my best to imply as much 3d and from as I can with the maps, that way its even more convincing when I add normal mapping. As for AO, I didn’t even use it on this project(the above map and a normla map is all). I did use realtime lighting, but that’s all. Things like subtle darkening around the mouth wrinkles give the impression of a smoother surface(due to the softer brush falloff) as well as AO. Plus, when you’ve done all you can do, a good strong normal map does wonders for an otherwise boring model(which is exactly what this thing is haha). Im still working out how to get great results, but Ive got a fair technique worked out. Unfortunately I dont have time to outline it as my internet connection is gonna cut out in about five minutes. Remind me to outline it for yall :slight_smile:

As far as stylistic texture concept, I just go grungy. This map is really a bit too messy, but my basic approach is to keep it nice and dirty :slight_smile: I can answer more questions, so don’t hesitate to ask if you want to know anything specific.

Updates on the Headcrab>
http://uploader.polorix.net//files/96/Blender%20GE/ParasiteScreens2.jpg

Mostly just your basic headcrab thang. Ive got some small ideas coming on to really bring it out(and so I can at least pretend I didn’t totally rip off the design), but those are still in the concept stage. Its also gonna have some hairs/spines and feelers, but I’m still working out good alpha mapping(Ive had my apricot build crash on me regularly for the last half hour, so I’m calling it a night haha), so we’ll have to wait till tomorrow for that.

Thanks again for the feedback guys, peace out!
http://uploader.polorix.net//files/96/drew.gif

Looks creepy, but highly realistic! Great job.

Thanks man :slight_smile:

I was totally busy today, but the updates are in the making, so check back.

Woaah, looking good. Are you planning or rigging it?

Man thats cool!

Nice texturing/modeling.
Interesting how you painted the texture. Ill have to try doing it like that sometime.’

Keep it up.

@andrew-101: Thanks! I love animating, so I’m sure I will :slight_smile: I’m doing my best to take the texturing and design as far as I can, but animation(though maybe not a lot) will definitely come. Rigging question: Does the GE support any kind of IK? Because any decent rig for this type of creature would require that(and I thought I heard somewhere that the GE still lacks it).

@AD-Edge: I appreciate it :slight_smile:

Argh, if anybody has any links to generic sites about alpha mapping in Blender, Id really love if you could drop em for me :slight_smile: I mean, I can get the alpha to work, but its buggy as junk, and my apricot build is crashing like I cant believe(sometimes when I’m editing faces in GLSL mode my gfx drivers will actually crash as well). Id have another update for you, but this is driving me crazy and killing the creative process.

Later
http://uploader.polorix.net//files/96/drew.gif

alpha works for me :smiley: dunno what to say.

I like your bug :smiley: he’s pretty neat, but if i was you, i’d have him bumble and grumble and screech a lot.

Think we can see diffuse map?

that monsters texture looks almost exactly like I want a monster of my own to look. (only I want mine to be lighter, with hard plates.)

can you give a detailed account of how you got the look you did? I would greatly appreciate it.

@Sammaron: Ha, I can get it to work, but I’m having some issues with it(crashing, weird alpha artifacts etc). Thanks man, I’m still working out how it will sounds… Diffuse maps in my last post :slight_smile:

@Yoda Almighty:

Alright, here goes…

cue mini-tutorial

Here’s the reference pic for this tute. The three brushes in the upper left corner were all I used for this map

http://uploader.polorix.net//files/96/Blender%20GE/BeetleTankHead_DiffuseWIP.jpg

So I started off by unwrapping the model(of course). Generally this is where you work out the UVs to minimalize stretching, but it came out pretty good right off and the parts that did become stretched weren’t a big priority.

I exported the UV layout to photoshop. I opened it up and added an empty layer(setting it’s opacity to bout 80% so I could still see the uv layout) and filled it with my base color.

The next thing I did was paint the mouth. This way when I looked at it on the model, it was already very obvious what/where everything was, not to mention, the mouth was possibly the most important part.

Then I grabbed a couple texture brushes and went to work discoloring the skin and mouth. My favorite for this map was a spotty brush with a ton of random scatter(and mild color randomization). The biggest part of painting this map was just trial and error. I tried different colors, switched through the brushes a lot, and just basically painted all over the place till I liked how it looked(which, for something dirty like this, was pretty easy). If you’ve got a basic idea of what you’re going for, you’ll hit on it pretty quickly.

Then I started detailing(blood, the scrapes across the back, greenish tinges) just to really bring out the harsher colors(prior to this it was mostly just mild discoloration throughout). A bit of selective darkening to imply bumps and shading, and the diffuse map was done.

Then it came time for bump mapping. I took my diffuse map, desaturated it completely, and then tweaked the light/dark levels until I felt like I had the right amount of contrast. I toned down the generic bumping all over the skin, because the purpose of the bump map was really to bring out the gashes on the back and around the mouth. After I was happy with that I blurred the whole image a bit(really sharp images dont work well with the plugin I used to create the normals, you end up with a lot of useless bump thats all the same height). I ran it through Nvidia’s Normal Map plugin for photoshop(did a little bit of tweaking in there too), and it was done.

http://uploader.polorix.net//files/96/Blender%20GE/BeetleTankHead_BumpWIP2.jpg

The white parts are transparent in the actual map(which is in png format), basically negative bump.

Throughout the whole process I had these maps applied to my model and was constantly going back to blender and reloading them to see how they looked. I even messed around with the UVs a bit to help and stretching I didn’t want and just to keep everything looking good. Its all about tweaking until it really looks good.

And that’s about it… if any part of it was unclear(which a lot of it probably was, I don’t really do tutorials haha), feel free to ask, I can elaborate.

Peace
http://uploader.polorix.net//files/96/drew.gif

Here’s a small-ish update to the headcrab. Totally redid the normal maps and tweaked the UV’s a bit to reduce seams.

http://uploader.polorix.net//files/96/Blender%20GE/parasitescreens3.jpg

Still having alpha problems, and I’m thinking I may call this one finished for now(after some quick rigging).

Rigged

http://uploader.polorix.net//files/96/Blender%20GE/screenPosed.jpg

And now on to bigger and better things. I had a lot of fun making this guy, and I’m satisfied with the result :slight_smile: Who knows if he’ll ever get used, but It was a great exercise.

later!
http://uploader.polorix.net//files/96/drew.gif

Oh my gosh! That is like so pro and amazing, like something from a XBOX game.

that’s a good end :smiley: everything is happy, cept for that lil fart.
last Question for him, so he isn’t seamless? can i see the seams? i want to see if there as obvious as mine always are. and i wanna make this guy look less perfect ;). and throw in a wires while your at it

looking forward for your next project :smiley:

It’s mirrored so i doubt there’s any seams.

Thanks you guys!

@sammaron: There were some seams on the legs, but I fixed em up, so its not an issue now :slight_smile:

nice!! now just make a person…and then have the head crabs rape his face…nevermind BAD IMAGES IN MY HEAD!! AHH!!

what you going to make next?